Robles, Petrov, Shelestyuk all victorious on ESPN Friday Night Fights

Emmanuel “Renegade” Robles has come a long way since this photo was taken on November 2, 2012 at the Four Points By Sheraton Hotel in San Diego with referee Pat Russell raising his arm in victory and ring announcer Benny Ricardo announcing his victory over Jose Mendoza. Photo: Jim Wyatt

Hooray for our side! On Friday evening in Corona, Calif. at the Omega Products International Outside Arena unbeaten super lightweight Emmanuel Robles (13-0-1, 3 KOs) of the Old School Boxing & Fitness Center in San Diego’s college area scored a six-round unanimous decision victory over Wilberth Lopez (5-5, 1 KO) of Tucson, Arizona. Close to pitching a shutout, the scores ended up 59-55, 59-55, 58-56, all in favor of Robles.

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Even though Robles had some trouble with Lopez’s three inch height and reach advantage, the off and on glare from the sun, plus the bad cut over his left eye which came in round five, he stayed on course to thoroughly outbox and outfox Lopez who was seven years his junior. Other than those difficulties, this was Robles’ fight from start to finish.

Even after Diaz was credited with a knockdown of Petrov in round one, Petrov remained focused and managed to finish not only that round strong, but the remainder of this 10 round championship fight.

Petr Petrov, caught off balance while throwing this wide left to Diaz’s midsection, was shoved rather than punched. As a result he lost his balance and touched his glove to the canvas. Referee Jack Reiss ruled it was a knockdown.

Those with a better view of this incident, saw the wily Diaz taking advantage of Petrov being off balance while throwing a left to Diaz’s midsection and simply shoved him to the canvas. Then, in the seventh round, it was Petrov knocking down Diaz down with a big overhand right. Later in that same frame Diaz had a point deducted after throwing a low blow. Then immediately after that foul, Diaz hit Petrov with a second low blow. Thus, the scores of 98-89, 97-90, 97-90 all for Petrov, reflected his complete command of the bout.

Southern California has a reputation for opening their arms wide for all these great boxers coming from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan to fulfill their life’s dream.

Unbeaten welterweight 29 year-old Taras “Real Deal” Shelestyuk of Sumy, Ukraine (12-0, 8 KOs) lived up to the hype by scoring an eight round unanimous decision victory over Juan Rodriguez (12-2, 5 KOs) from Union City, New Jersey. Despite a nasty cut over his right eye from a head butt in round four, Shelestyuk remained focused and dominated Rodriguez round after round. In the end, the scorecards of 79-73, 79-73 and 78-74 reflected his dominance. It seems that after Mr. Shelestyuk moved to Los Angeles and started training at the Wild Card Gym with Hall of Fame trainer, Freddie Roach, he’s become a very hot prospect.

On the undercard

In his pro debut, super featherweight Michael Norato (1-0, 1 KO) scored a second round KO of Sopaun Rin (1-2-1) of Pomona, Calif. in a fight that was scheduled to go 4-rounds. Also, welterweight Darius Ervin (1-0) of Indio, Calif. notched his first professional win against Isaac Freeman (1-1, 1 KO) of Los Angeles, Calif. The majority decision win came by way of 39-37, 40-36 and 38-38 scoring.

In the final bout Super bantamweight Humberto Rubalcava (1-0, 1 KO) of nearby Riverside, had a memorable pro debut by knocking out Christian Lorenzo (2-3, 1 KO) of Los Angeles in the second round by way of a powerful right hook that nearly sent Lorenzo through the ropes.